DAY 439 - MAY 28, 2012
The Assad regime massacres over 100 people in the Al Houla area of Homs, 49 of which are children. The world is stunned and horrified, drawing outrage from human rights groups. In addition, after continuing protests, the Syrian Army raids Aleppo University, using tear gas and live ammunition in the dormitories. Despite a UN ceasefire that was brokered by Kofi Annan, fighting continues to intensify in all major cities in Syria. In Damascus, shopkeepers have closed their stores in regime areas in ardent protests against government actions.
You've spent the last three months in Tadmor. The regime soldiers have given up on trying to find Ali through your Skype account. They have not tortured you but you can hear the screams of one of the two American journalists who entered the prison not long ago and who sleep on the other side of the wall. Aasfa could not take it. Over the course of the last month she slowly files down the small window with the young rebel from Aleppo. She continues to starve herself until she knows she can fit through the opening but on the day of her escape a guard dog, on the other end of the wall, spots her. A regime soldier is quick to follow. He shoots her in the side and then the head before she can even fully make it out into the daylight. Consequently she falls back into the cell, her head half of what it used to be.